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Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama

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This article is part of
a series about
Barack Obama
Personal
Illinois State Senator and U.S. Senator from Illinois
44th President of the United States
Tenure
Policies
Appointments
Presidential campaigns
Barack Obama's signature
Seal of the President of the United States

The Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama stretched from 1996 to 2004, when Barack Obama was elected to the United States Senate. Starting in 1993 and throughout his state senate career, Obama also taught constitutional law part-time at the University of Chicago Law School until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004.[1]

State elections

When Hyde Park State Senator Alice Palmer decided to run for Congress in a 1995 special election, Obama decided to run for her seat in 1996. Palmer endorsed Obama, thereby securing him an easy victory. But her competition was more effective than she expected and she finished third in the Democratic primary on 29 November 1995.[2] It was won by Jesse Jackson, Jr. who went on to win the general election on 12 December 1995.[3]

Palmer returned to request that Obama drop out of the race and let her run again for the seat. Obama refused, and Palmer decided to run against him. But, prior to the primary, Obama contested the validity of her ballot petition signatures as well as those of all his other Democratic challengers, a common tactic in Chicago politics. As a result, they were all denied a place on the ballot and Obama ran unopposed in the primary.[4] In the general election, Obama won the heavily Democratic 13th district by a large margin.[5] He was easily reelected in 1998.

In 2000, Obama made a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives seat held by four-term incumbent candidate Bobby Rush. Rush had been badly defeated in the February 1999 Chicago Mayoral election by Richard M. Daley and was thought to be vulnerable. Rush charged that Obama was not sufficiently rooted in Chicago's black neighborhoods to represent constituents' concerns, and also benefitted from an outpouring of sympathy when his son was shot to death shortly before the election. Obama, who started with just a 10% name recognition, got only 31% of the votes, losing by a more than 2-to-1 margin despite winning among white voters.[6][7]

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate again in 2002 (when the 13th District was redrawn to span Chicago lakefront neighborhoods from the Gold Coast south to South Chicago).[8]

Work as senator

As a state legislator, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.[9] He sponsored a law enhancing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[10] Obama also led the passage of legislation mandating videotaping of homicide interrogations, and a law to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they stopped.[10] In 2002, Obama voted against the Induced Infant Liability Act, a bill requiring doctors to give medical attention to fully born babies who survive late term abortions.[11] In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minorty, regained a majority in the Illinois Senate.

During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, he won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose president credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[12] He was criticized by rival pro-choice candidates in the Democratic primary and by his Republican pro-life opponent in the general election for a series of "present" or "no" votes on late-term abortion and parental notification issues.[13] He resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ Sweet, Lynn (March 30, 2008). "No 'Professor' Obama at U. of C." Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-04-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Pallasch, Abdon M (February 12 2007). "Professor Obama was a Listener, Students Say". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-01-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: "Statement Regarding Barack Obama". University of Chicago Law School. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  2. ^ "Jesse Jackson Jr. Wins Primary in Chicago". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. 1995-11-29. Retrieved 2008-04-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "Junior Wins". Time. Time Inc. 1995-12-13. Retrieved 2008-04-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Making It -- How Chicago shaped Obama". The New Yorker. 2008-07-21. Retrieved 2008-07-25.
  5. ^ "Obama played hardball in first Chicago campaign". CNN. 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2008-06-02.
  6. ^ Federal Election Commission, 2000 U.S. House of Representatives Results. See also: "Obama's Loss May Have Aided White House Bid". and Scott, Janny (September 9 2007). "A Streetwise Veteran Schooled Young Obama". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ McClelland, Edward (February 12 2007). "How Obama Learned to Be a Natural". Salon. Retrieved 2008-04-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Wolffe, Richard (July 16 2007). "Across the Divide". Newsweek. MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-04-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Helman, Scott (October 12 2007). "Early Defeat Launched a Rapid Political Climb". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-04-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) and "Obama learned from failed Congress run".
  8. ^ White, Jesse (2005). "Legislative Districts of Northeastern Illinois, 2001 Reapportionment". Illinois Blue Book 2005–2006. Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State. pp. p. 64. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help); External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Slevin, Peter (February 9, 2007). "Obama Forged Political Mettle in Illinois Capitol". Washington Post. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: "Obama Record May Be Gold Mine for Critics". Associated Press. CBS News. January 17 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "In-Depth Look at Obama's Political Career" (video). CLTV. Chicago Tribune. February 9, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ a b Scott, Janny (July 30 2007). "In Illinois, Obama Proved Pragmatic and Shrewd". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Pearson, Rick (May 3 2007). "Careful Steps, Looking Ahead". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Obama More Pro Choice Than NARAL", "Human Events" 26 December 2006.
  12. ^ Youngman, Sam (March 14 2007). "Obama's Crime Votes Are Fodder for Rivals". The Hill. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) See also: "US Presidential Candidate Obama Cites Work on State Death Penalty Reforms". Associated Press. International Herald Tribune. November 12 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ Zorn, Eric (March 9 2004). "Disparagement of Obama Votes Doesn't Hold Up". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "Keyes Assails Obama's Abortion Views". Associated Press. MSNBC. August 9 2004. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) See also: Youngman, Sam (February 15 2007). "Abortion Foes Target Obama Because of His Vote Record on Illinois Legislation". The Hill. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "13th District: Barack Obama". Illinois State Senate Democrats. August 24 2000. Archived from the original (archive) on 2000-08-24. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "13th District: Barack Obama". Illinois State Senate Democrats. October 9 2004. Archived from the original (archive) on 2004-10-09. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cohen, Jodi S (November 7 2004). "Obama's Springfield Seat Goes to Lawyer" (paid archive). Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-01-14. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Further reading

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Political offices
Preceded by Illinois State Senator from 13th district
January 8, 1997 - November 4, 2004 		Succeeded by
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